CESM2 Large Ensemble
d651056
The CESM2 Large Ensemble consists of 100 members at 1 degree spatial resolution covering the period 1850-2100 under CMIP6 historical and SSP370 future radiative forcing scenarios. Two separate sets of biomass burning emissions forcing files were used within the ensemble. Members 1-50 were forced with CMIP6 protocols identical to those used in Danabasoglu et al. (2020) in the paper for CESM2. For members 51-100, the most relevant species for biomass burning fluxes from the CMIP6 protocols were smoothed with an 11-year running mean filter, impacting the fluxes over the years 1990-2020. The CESM2 Large Ensemble uses a combination of different oceanic and atmospheric initial states to create ensemble spread as follows: Members 1-10: These begin from years 1001, 1021, 1041, 1061, 1081, 1101, 1121, 1141, 1161, and 1181 of the 1400-year pre-industrial control simulation. This segment of the control simulation was chosen to minimize drift. Members 11-90: These begin from 4 pre-selected years of the pre-industrial control simulation based on the phase of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). For each of the 4 initial states, there are 20 ensemble members created by randomly perturbing the atmospheric temperature field on the order of -14K. The chosen start dates (model years 1231, 1251, 1281, and 1301) sample AMOC and Sea Surface Height (SSH) in the Labrador Sea at their maximum, minimum and transition states. Members 91-100: These begin from years 1011, 1031, 1051, 1071, 1091, 1111, 1131, 1151, 1171, and 1191 of the 1400-year pre-industrial control simulation. This set includes the extensive "MOAR" output, which can be used to drive regional climate models. The initialization design allows assessment of oceanic (AMOC) and atmospheric contributions to ensemble spread, and the impact of AMOC initial-condition memory on the global earth system.
dataset
https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d651056/
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name: Dataset Description
description: Related Link
function: information
https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d651056/dataaccess/
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name: Data Access
description: Related Link
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climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
dataset
revision
2021-03-30
CESM > NCAR Community Earth System Model
revision
2026-04-15
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > SEA LEVEL PRESSURE
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE > SURFACE TEMPERATURE
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE > UPPER AIR TEMPERATURE
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR > WATER VAPOR INDICATORS > HUMIDITY > SPECIFIC HUMIDITY
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > U/V WIND COMPONENTS
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > WIND DYNAMICS > VERTICAL WIND VELOCITY/SPEED
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > LIQUID PRECIPITATION > RAIN
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > PRECIPITATION PROFILES > LATENT HEAT FLUX
revision
2026-04-15
1850-01-01
2100-12-31
publication
2020-09-04
notPlanned
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
None
pointOfContact
NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange
name: NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange
description: The Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX), managed by the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at NSF NCAR, contains a large collection of meteorological, atmospheric composition, and oceanographic observations, and operational and reanalysis model outputs, integrated with NSF NCAR High Performance Compute services to support atmospheric and geosciences research.
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pointOfContact
2026-04-21T02:01:16Z